Dr. Gustavo dos Santos

Dr. Gustavo dos Santos is Executive Director of Aircraft Propulsion and Turbomachinery at the Propulsion and Space Research Center at the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a cutting-edge UAE-based scientific research center. He is responsible for the research and development of novel propulsion concepts, hybrid-electric propulsion, and turbomachine components. 

Dr. dos Santos brings to his role over 20 years of experience in the field of aircraft propulsion and turbomachines, and in leading engineering teams in R&D, in a career spanning four countries with aircraft and propulsion systems manufacturers.  

In addition to wide-ranging manufacturing experience from concept design to entry-into-service and aftermarket, he holds expertise in propulsion systems development, testing, and reporting and in compliance to airworthiness regulations in Brazil, United States, Europe, and Japan. A member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, he has collaborated in finalizing several Industry Standards. He received international recognition for his technical contribution to promote methods for in-flight thrust determination. Dr. dos Santos’s research interest is in sustainable propulsion, including full electric, green fuel, and electric-hybrid technologies.  

Prior to joining TII, he was a technical consultant for companies in Japan and Canada on aircraft fuel burn reduction and disruptive propulsion. Earlier in his career, he worked as Engineering Manager at Mitsubishi (Japan), Lead Consultant at Altran (Germany), General Engineering Manager at Vale (Brazil), Engineer at Rolls-Royce (Germany) and Engineer at Embraer (Brazil).  

Dr. Gustavo dos Santos holds an MBA from Warwick Business School in the UK, and a DSc degree in Propulsion Aeroacoustics from the Technology Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) in Brazil and received an award for best thesis of the year. He also earned an MSc degree from ITA, and a bachelor’s in Aeronautical-Mechanical Engineering from ITA with honors in Mathematics.